Vignettes

There is a surprising amount to notice even in a forty eight hour trip, even if an awful lot of it is spent travelling. Not all of the latter is good, of course......

I hadn't flown on an Airbus before. They are noticeably quieter. We had plenty of leg room, but were really squashed widthways. But because the plane was unfamiliar, I was sitting there quite calmly at touch down thinking - gosh, this plane handles differently from any other I have ever been on, the pilot has to lift the nose a bit when landing....when the DSM informs me that the pilot has aborted landing at 100 metres.

Oh bugger. Still, we made it safely the second time.

Antalya airport to Side is not what you might call picturesque, but it is interesting. Acres of citrus groves, not a common sight around Yorkshire, so that was nice. Very pretty goats. Mountains in the distance, looking intriguing. Houses and small communities....apparently, if you build a house in Turkey, you don't pay taxes until the roof is completed. Guerss what? Lots of unfinished houses, and who can blame people. But also, lots of solar panels on top of the buildings, how sensible.

I did see some nice carpets, hung over balconies to air and get the dust out during the day. I also think that I saw a whole load of yarn hanging up under a balcony, but we flashed by too quickly for me to be sure.

The hotel was modern and totally westernised. Shame. But there were a lot of palm trees around.



The stands that supported the awnings on the beach were an interesting shape that reminded me of eyes.





The eye was an is still important in Mediterranean and other cultures. The airport gift shops were full of objects decorated with blue eyes, and we were all given a similar large glass pendant with an eye, which is actually quite cool and I will make a beaded necklace for it somewhere down the line.

During the eclipse period, we had neighbours on the beach. To one side, we had a nice young German family, two smashing kids. But the little girl fell asleep, and her mother, who had been abandoned by her husband who went to join his techie friends, did not wake her up for totality. I just felt that was so sad. She was old enough to have kept a lot of the experience as a precious memory.

To our other side, we had an English pair, a youngish man and his elderly mum. He was so sweet to her. He wouldn't go and join his techie friends because they were in the full sun and he said that would be to strong for her ( I am sure he was right). He did go and talk to them from time to time, but was back with his mum for all the important bits. He just treated her beautifully, they had a great time.
I couldn't resist taking a sneaky photograph.



There was a very pretty hotel cat, who seemed fascinated with water. I therefore decided that it must have some ancestry from the famous Turkish Van swimming cats.



The trip home had a few incidents, too. At airport check in, the passenger manifests supplied by the tour company were arranged in alphabetical order - of forename. Idiots. Check in took ages.

An unfortunate passenger across the aisle from where we were sitting was taken ill on take off, but recovered, I am so glad to say. Turned out to be a diabetic hypoglycemic attack. But scary.

We landed a bit late, and the captain promptly announced that a fire alarm had just gone off in the airport so we could not disembark. Another half hour sitting on the dam' plane.

And guess what? Worth every single glitch and hiccup - mere bagatelles!

How do you find the words to describe magic and wonder?

We took the short walk to this beach near Side in Turkey, and encamped ourselves under the solitary awning that had been put up on the waiting frames. It was late morning, and a glorious day - virtually clear blue skies, comfortably warm temperatures, moderated by a gentle breeze. I needed sunglasses against the unaccustomed brightness of the day.



We waited. Looking anxiously at the sky.

We all had the strange solar glasses - as you put them on, your own eyes looked back at you.



By first contact, a few more people had gathered here. We were, in the main, the "experiencers", not the informed, fanatical chasers. They collected together on small hills and inclines, surrounded by tripods, telescopes, ferocious looking cameras, computers. With first contact came the first collective small cries, the occasional gasp, then quiet talk again.

The day continued bright and warm.

But the first thing I noticed was the breeze strengthening. Then it started to feel noticeably chillier, and people began to wrap themselves in extra garments, towels, whatever came to hand. Soon it was quite cool in comparison with the earlier warmth.

I apologise for the quality of the next photograph - I haven't even stopped to crop it. But it does just about show what I wanted to show. Because gradually, I became aware that there was something wrong with my eyes. It is, actually, the most odd sensation - the brain is totally unfamiliar with what is happening, so can't translate it accurately. The sun, so it seems, is still blazing away in the midday sky, but the light is dimming - so, it must be your eyes. By this point, the eclipse was probably about 75-80% obscured, but this could only be discerned with the glasses on. To normal vision, all was as usual.



Things moved fast after that. The light levels fell dramatically, and suddenly, we were there. It is impossible for me to really describe what I felt - I suppose that describing what I saw is a little more possible. Heard, too. There is something about the phenomenon of a total eclipse that elicits an emotional, vocal response - people gasp, call out, even sob.

The experience is beautiful - I shall make no apology for my own emotional responses. The colours - it is not dark, and was in fact lighter than my next two images suggest. And there, high in the sky on this occasion, someone has cut a perfect, black, round disc out of the sky, around which flares a white and glorious ring of light - the corona. For the duration of totality, you can look with your naked, unprotected eye into the point where the sun should be.





I am amazed that my little digital camera managed to capture any images of this at all, so I am certainly not complaining. But these do not of course show what it was like with any accuracy. I am not sure that any camera could - the quality of light is so different from at any other time, with an unusual intensity as well as colour. The sky is a vibrant mid blue - because of an exceptionally bright corona, and a few wisps of cloud, only two planets were visible, Venus and Mercury, which the DSM with his SHR eyes was able to see but I was not. We looked mainly over the sea, and it is that horizon which blazed with the colours that show rather dimly here. The bright spots are where streetlights have come on automatically.

For that three and a half minutes, we gazed in awe, and I think that somewhere in the depths of our hearts wondered if indeed the sun would return. When it did - when the first brilliant flash of sunlight flared at the edge of the black disc - there was another gasp, a cheer, an almost palpable sense of relief, and an almost palpable sense of regret. It was, in essence over. The sun had returned, which was of course, good. But the magic had gone, and something had passed that we may never be fortunate enough to see again.

This website has an archived recording of the entire thing. Skip the extremely irritating animation, indeed most of the broadcast which is a bit verbose and - irritating. But at around the 55 minute point comes the actual eclipse, and there are good shots of the corona. There is a lot of noise from the assembled crowd, but you can hear what I have been talking about. The webcast was made from only a little way away from where we were - I think I was happier on our beach.

I am so glad we went. If I can see it again some time in the future, I will do so in a heartbeat. As the ancients will have done, I feel I experienced magic.

It's raining, it's pouring.......

I had to do a quick dash in to town this morning, and got pretty damn wet in the process. I did have the foresight no to take a brolly - the wind was so strong, they were popping inside out all over town. Instead, I chose to look eccentric in my Mendocino "stetson", which not only has a good wide brim, but a leather card to tighten under the chin to keep the hat on in blustery weather.

But...despite the gloom and the downpour, I was very aware that the accompanying milder temperature has given a spur to the plants. I had already caught sight of the first primroses from the bathroom window, but going outside, I also saw lots of daffodils, and the forsythia at the end of the lane is just about bursting buds. The tulips and daffs in the pots have a way to go yet, but - progress.

The clocks changed this weekend, and a combination of that and the mater nearly did me in yesterday. She did enjoy her trip out to the Thai restaurant - the young waiters are so sweet with her, infinitely patient and incredibly respectful. I'm afraid I can't manage it quite. I can't wave a magic wand and make her young again, the help I do offer is not what she wants to hear and she won't, and probably doesn't want to, try any of the things I suggest that might make the days a little less boring. It's a syndrome that affects people at all stages of life and is impossible to do anything about unless the other person wants to make changes, but it is sad - and very frustrating. We worry that her nutritional needs are not being properly met by her care home (which they have a statutory duty to do) because she doesn't eat red meat, only chicken and fish, and is a bit picky about some other things including a lot of veggies. But she won't let us talk to the manager, nor do so herself. Actually, she has always been like that - preferred to complain to all and sundry except the people who might be able to do something about whatever it is, so why am I surprised!

What a long moan - very boring. I'll shut up about it.

I sat and finished off the polwarth bag when we got home - after calling in at Cotton Traders on the way back, and buying myself a rather cool pair of pink boots! They are more on the walking boot scale rather than the Jaywalkers ones, so I will have to be quite careful what I work out to wear with them - I think I need a long, flared denim skirt. I might get the sewing machine out, although I am not at all happy with either of the ones I have at the moment (DMIL gave me her old Singer, which I had serviced, and it didn't improve matters.) I am going to buy myself a good new one when I get my pension money later this year. (Aaargh! I mentioned the "P" word!)

Concentrate, Carol. Polwarth bag - not as good as I would have liked, not as bad as I feared it was going to be. I do think silk outers work better. And I have decided I am going to try a crochet one, and probably a different shape, too. I don't quite know where this obsession with useless little bags comes from, but I see no signs of it stopping so I might as well go with the flow. Here it is in all its glory, anyway.



I have just been brave and had a look at the weather forecast for Antalya - and it is giving sunny (and pretty warm) for Tuesday and Wednesday. Let's keep everything crossed, eh? And for photos, too. The DSM is taking the SLR, but not the tripod, he is going to use me instead. So think of me, spindle spinning, trying to stand as level and still as possible, with a camera balanced on my head. Or, better, don't, you'll spill your coffee.

Anyway, pics in a few days time, I hope.

Just for once.....

I rarely do quizzes, and certainly haven't posted a result before; but this one rather appealed. I like the idea of being a wolf!

What Is Your Animal Personality?

Wolf
Take this quiz!








Quizilla |
Join

| Make A Quiz | More Quizzes | Grab Code

Gifts and guilt

The coven met last night, the first time some of us had got together in a while. The fabulous Freyalyn, finally recovered from her attack of shingles, came bearing gifts.

That's the gifts - why the guilt? Because I teased her like mad about not bringing us all one of the fabulous coats she had treated herself to from the local market. And she then produced what she had brought.



This is a lovely little embroidered bag that is just the right size for a midi or small spindle plus fibre. Very cool. These are hand-embroidered in the traditional colours, principally red - all her photos were full of red. (Which would originally have been madder.)



A closer view.

But I got an extra, with which I was thrilled.



Now, how many people do you know who would be thrilled with a bunch of dead flowers? I could hang this in my window to ward off evil spirits, never a bad idea. But, of course, it is a dye plant, and I do intend to use it. I think it may be anthemis tinctoria, which google tells me is grown in the mediterranean and asian regions as a common source of yellow; or it may be tansy. Something akin to those, anyway. It is still a little aromatic - good job there were no sniffer dogs around.

I have been known to smuggle dye plants home myself, particularly wolf lichen (oh, joy, I should be able to replenish my supply this autumn when we go to SOAR!); also rabbit brush from New Mexico which gave me a truly fabulous yellow-gold. With the latter, it is the climate, of course. But I would love to get more one day.

I ate the soup and now I think I should eat some words

**!*&?!!***fffffffff

Plus I ate the bloody blog entry, too.

Hit the wrong key and the entire post disappeared, "undo" was greyed and "recover post" didn't.

FUCK.

I need to be doing other stuff, so here's a precis.

Cabbage soup was ok if, like us, you like that sort of thing, instructions on request.

Short discourse on the joys of fartichoke soup, when and where to eat it.

Brief update of the travels of the DSM, who did spend the night at home, only to bugger of again this morning on a work jolly, musings on the fact that his company don't include partners in anything, and me not really complaining about that.

Fairly major eating of words over what I said about the SOAR prog which is now up on the website. Workshops ok, targetted well at core market, just not so much at me, although at least three I could tolerate doing. Much digging of holes around who is doing what and what I might recommend, probably just as well that bit got erased, written word being so easily misinterpreted.

Rapid review of What I Am Working On - or not. In brief - very little of excitement, although I am Doing Stuff.

OK, ok Could Do Better. Maybe demain.

An ordinary day

I was woken up at 6.45 by virtue of the room being lighter than usual. Amazing! A beautiful sunny morning. Mind you, any ideas about going outside with a cup of coffee were rapidly jettisoned when I opened the door and a blast of extremely frigid air knifed in to the room. Ah, well, it is still a glorious morning.

I had my usual mental list of the things that had to be accomplished today Or Else. And top of that list was to phone my mother. Now, I do acknowledge that I am not a good daughter. I neither visit or phone as often as I "should". There are reasons for this, I don't need to bore on about them, or bare my soul in an unseemly fashion. That's just how things are. But with it being Mothers' Day on Sunday, and us having booked a table at a nice restaurant, I did think I should let her know that! I had meant to do it yesterday, and didn't, so this morning was imperative.

My subconscious was speaking to me. Three years ago today, my father died. So it was serendipitous that I finally got around to making the call this morning.

Unexpectedly, Spin Off arrived in this morning's post. I fell on it, barely managing not to rip any pages, in my fight to find the SOAR ad, always such an exciting moment. I had been given a sneak preview of the workshops, but not the retreat session.

OK, so don't get me wrong here. There are some super people doing some excellent classes. Unfortunately, I have either done them, don't really need them, or they simply are not my style. Depending on what the full details give when they finally go up on the website, I can just about scrape three choices, although there is only one class that I really want to do. Retreat sessions? Forget it. Not one thing. I had hoped at least that Charlene Abrams might have been doing her beaded button class again, but no. So, that's him and me touring the Tahoe area for a couple of days then. Not that that seems such a dim idea. And this is always supposing they let us in again after our absence last year........

Do I sense the end of an era coming on?

So, now I go to make cabbage soup. Yes, really. Our veggie box scheme has given us rather a lot of white cabbage the last couple of weeks, and we have in the archive a recipe. We used to love it - I'm not quite sure why I am feeling somewhat underwhelmed at the prospect of it now. Plenty of black pepper and caraway seeds, that's the ticket.

Well, the alternative would be swede soup, and I do draw the line at that!